


Making Room

by Elektra Pendragon (elekdragon)



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Daddies in Love, Episode Related, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Schmoop, Season 6 Episode 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 07:13:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6070027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elekdragon/pseuds/Elektra%20Pendragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rick invites Morgan into his home; after all, they had to get to know each other for the first time all over again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making Room

**Author's Note:**

> Set during Season 6, episode 1, when Rick invites Morgan into the house, gives him a key. [This scene, to be exact.](http://elekdragon.tumblr.com/post/134391965760/that-moment-when-your-crush-holds-your-baby-and) Wrote this before I realized Rick and Carl share a room, and decided to post it anyway because there needs to be some Rick/Morgan out there in the world.

Judith was asleep on Morgan's shoulder. She had settled without a noise, used to being passed around from person to person. She trusted easily, but she had little choice. It was the only world she knew. Her tiny face was slack, and Morgan just held her steady, continuing through the process of gathering up his few belongings. He moved with a fatherly ease that seemed to come naturally to him. 

When he juggled Judith a little bit, Rick leaned over, taking the rolled-up blanket from his hand and stuffing it into the top of the bag. "I got it." He closed the clasps well enough to hold everything inside, but he didn't bother with securing it. They only had a short walk to go to bring Morgan home. 

Rick carried his things across the street, walking just a few steps ahead of the man carrying his sleeping child. It felt right, leading him into the house, up the stairs. He gestured to Judith's room, pausing just a moment to watch Morgan elbow on the light. Rick settled the heavy bag and equipment against the wall next to his bedroom. Then he stepped inside, looking at the large bed in the center of the empty room. 

For the longest time, he had never allowed himself to think about Morgan. It had hurt too much to remember the gentle man turned into a killing machine. He'd been through his own terrors, the pain and fear of loss, and towards the end, out there starving on the long road to Washington, he could almost understand what had driven Morgan to that extreme. He didn't have the hope left to imagine a world in which Morgan was okay. 

Yet Morgan was alive! He had saved Daryl and Aaron without knowing who they were. He took confinement with an air of peace Rick couldn't imagine being able to touch. And now, Rick was able to pay back the old debt, in even a small part, by giving him room in his house. 

He ran the layout of the massive house through his mind. There were more than enough rooms, even though many were not quite finished. Everyone clustered together in various configurations, shifting between established relationships and the need to be close to the larger group. There were a lot of different places where he could put Morgan, but none of them felt more right than the bed right in front of him. 

Coming to his decision, Rick stepped back out of the room to check in on Morgan and Judith. 

Morgan's staff was resting against the window, looking far too innocent for how it could be used. It was polished bright, hiding any rusty stains that might mar the wood. Rick watched from the doorway as Morgan lingered, bent over the edge of the crib. Every so often, he'd reach down, touch her hand or her forehead, and the whole time he just smiled. 

"When we first got here," Rick started softly, walking over to stand beside the crib, "we all slept on the floor downstairs. Piled together, like we was on the road. Some people still crash on the floor, or just move between the two houses." 

Morgan straightened, meeting Rick's gaze. "The floor is just fine."

Rick smiled, then dropped his gaze for a moment to look down at his little girl. "You don't have to." Tentatively, he reached out, brushing away a smudge from Morgan's cheek. His skin was warm and dry, reminding him again that the man was really here, whole and alive and somehow at peace with himself. He had thought he'd never see him alive again. 

Rick didn't know who moved forward first, just that suddenly he was kissing Morgan. It felt wonderful, real and safe and exactly what he'd felt that very first time. So unlike that first time--the last time--when he had been confused, lost in an alien world of monsters, and Morgan had been his only fixed point. 

Now they both knew the world far too well, been through so much, but Morgan was still there. Alive. Whole.

Rick pulled back, breaking contact enough to catch his breath. "You can share my bed," he whispered. 

Morgan smiled and stepped back a couple paces. "The floor's just fine, Rick."

Rick reached down, wrapping his hand around Morgan's long fingers and pulling. Morgan reached back to get his staff, but allowed himself to be directed into the hallway. He closed the door to Judith's room, knowing that someone was always looking at the baby monitor. "No." 

"No?"

"I said I'd make room. I made room." Rick led him to the bedroom and closed the door behind them before he finally let Morgan go. The man stood there, watching, as Rick kicked out of his boots, slipped his holster off his hips. He placed it beside the bed, within reaching distance. He started unbuttoning his shirt, but Morgan shook his head.

"You don't want this. You didn't, back then. We were just--"

"Lost? Lonely?" Rick finished unbuttoning his shirt letting it fall to the floor as he closed the space between them once again. "I was getting ready to find my family. You were protecting your own. It was the most clear moment I had felt in a long time." 

The last time, the first time, they had been together like this, they had been fresh from the sheriff's office showers, skin wet and Duane singing in the next room. It had been a quick moment, fast, desperate, but the memory of it had stayed with him. It had stopped his hand when Morgan tried to kill him. It made him fight to keep Morgan alive. 

"I made room for you. A long time ago I made room. We just… needed to find each other." 

Morgan winced, one hand reaching out to touch some of the new scars marring his chest. His fingers lingered against the smooth line at his shoulder, the place where he'd one pressed a knife so deep into Rick's flesh. "Again."

Rick leaned into Morgan's space, breathing in his scent as he tilted his head and found his lips.


End file.
